We are so used to hopping on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to catch up with our friends and watch the latest viral videos. Facebook is a vehicle for our entire holiday album and Twitter is what we use to complain about bruised fruit from our last online food shop.
These can be habits that are hard to break when using Social Media for business. Companies can be found trudging around the echo-chamber of the internet shouting their wares or posting inane shots of the everyday office life.
I believe there is a right way to post online - and that’s not it…
Each brand and product has its own voice and audience. When the two of these successfully combine, you can get some powerful results. To discover what’s right for you and your business you have to: know your goals, know your audience, and know your brand
Know your goals
When you set up your social media accounts, what were you hoping to achieve? Some goals may include a mixture of:
engaging your fans
reaching a new audience
building brand loyalty
establishing yourself as an authority
increasing website traffic
The list goes on… But this is always an important question to ask yourself. Your goals and objectives should be reflected in everything you post online. Without this, it’s easy to find yourself struggling to realise the true benefits of social media for your business.
Know your audiences
With this in mind, can you know what to post, to best communicate your business, without knowing who you are talking to? This splits into two branches: who is your ideal audience? and who is your current audience?
Ideal audience
There is an ideal user for your product or services. Do you know who they are?
Your vibe attracts your tribe.
I’ve always find ‘your vibe attracts your tribe’ to be an accurate saying. Next time you go to a party, or a wedding, where not everyone knows each other, watch who begins to mingle by the end of the night. You’ll often find people are drawn to those similar to them. Something about how they sound, look, stand or act is resonating with others.
This is the same for you and your business online. Try to sound, look and act like the people you would like to attract. Not in mimicry but to draw the right people in. It can be useful to create a couple of Ideal Customer Profile’s (ICP) to focus your content and messaging.
Help me create a customer profile!
Current audience
Having said that, who is your current audience? Who is currently engaging with your brand? Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all give basic demographics on your followers such as age and gender breakdown - this is a great starting point!
Think about how you would communicate your brand differently to a 55 year old man and a 22 year old woman. This doesn’t mean reductionism and stereotyping. But it does mean relevance, this can - and should! - have an affect on the types of content you post and also the tone of your account.
Know your brand
Branding is a complicated issue, because its a true jumble of your tangible and intangible presence in the world. Your product, personality, and values all mixed into one. Even if you are a one-man-band you have a brand.
Social Media is a perfect tool for cementing your brand; whether you’re an elegant, beautiful brand like Karen Millen or a cheeky, right-laugh-at-the-pub brand like Paddy Power. There’s so much at your disposal to make choices about how you are to be seen and heard.
Knowing your brands identity is key to finding its voice online.
Innocent Smoothies #GBBO
Innocent Smoothies are always a fantastic example.
For years, Innocent Smoothies have tweeted about the Great British Bake Off. It’s nothing to do with smoothies or drinks. Why on earth do they give a commentary on it each week? Why do people put up with it?
Because Innocent knows its brand and has found its voice: cute, fun, friendly, slightly middle-class. All traits of the Bake Off too, so why not talk about it? Their audience certainly don’t seem to mind. Innocent’s market positioning gives them licence to talk about the everyday in a light-hearted way. They can poke fun and join in on the wave of excitement that the Bake Off brings to their audience.
If you want to find your voice on Social Media, Lobster Digital is here to help. You can book yourself or your team for a consultation, or one of our Training Workshops.
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